I am excited & honoured that my poem is one of the 12 that Degna selected for Deseeded Volume #3 – officially published this week.

I invite you to explore this beautifully produced on-line anthology which is free to read here on Issuu – 12 poems by 12 poets. And several (including mine) have audio links (under the poem) to the poets reading their own work.

How to… Write a Poem Workshop

Key Event Information

Using Julia’s own 2005 poetry workshop for the Guardian, we will explore ideas by writing about what we don’t know.

“Poetry can be a brilliant way of exploring the things you don’t know. Let me explain. Often we write too literally, too logically or self-consciously, when it is the imaginative connections – the leaps of faith, the connections between images and words – that are interesting to the writer and the reader. Poetry is an odd combination of creative energy and technical ability. In this exercise we are trying to let ourselves free fall, then working on the poem to give it shape. I like poetry to be useful, and I think that by writing about what we don’t know we can explore all kinds of ideas within our minds, and help ourselves, too.”

Julia Darling

I never knew Julia in person, but I have heard so much about her from Degna and others that I feel some of her warmth & generosity indirectly — which just goes to show that life is one great big spider web of interconnections. And I just discovered (reading her bio ) that she was only one day older than me. Which gives me pause…

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5 comments

Great to see this here – Degna has done a great job and the result is something to be treasured. I wish I could be part of the other activities in Newcastle but it’s a bit too far away. Thanks for featuring it here – it’s a wonderful read with a beautifully diverse group of poems. I am proud to be a part of it and think Julia Darling’s workshop is one that I will go back to again and again. Very inspiring.

Thanks Becky!
And I meant to list all the poets in my post – forgot to do so, BUT have now edited the post – so I’ve listed all 12 poets in PURPLE :-), and also added the credit to Daniel Stone for the wonderful cover image.